Madisonville by way of Norway

Dr. Audrey Ormberg recently began work in family practice at Huntsville Memorial Hospital’s local clinic on Texas 21.

Posted
Tuesday, March 8, 2016 7:30 pm

By April Towery
sports@madisonvillemeteor.com

A Norwegian woman who grew up in Delaware and studied medicine in Illinois has made her way to Madison County to serve the community as a family practice doctor.

Dr. Audrey Ormberg began working at the Huntsville Memorial Hospital’s Madisonville clinic in December. It was around the same time that she got her U.S. citizenship. She has just a hint of an accent and occasionally visits relatives in Norway but it’s evident that she loves the local community.

But as a young woman Ormberg became fascinated with the healthcare profession and worked as a candy striper. She loved it so much she had a hard time going home at night.

“They made a new rule because of me that volunteers had to be out by midnight,” Ormberg said.

While the Rosalind Franklin University graduate was in residency in Delaware, her husband was looking for work and a recruiter contacted them, ultimately bringing them to Texas in 1998. Her husband now works for Texas A&M University.

Ormberg worked with the Brazos Valley Community Action Agency to help start a clinic in Madisonville in the late 1990s. She said that now that she works in the local community, it feels like coming back home.

“The patients are great,” she said. “It’s nice having family-centered care. I think it’s cute when a husband and wife come in and the husband tells me he eats healthy and then the wife says, ‘What about all that Blue Bell?’”

Ormberg sees about 12 to 16 patients a day but has time for more. The local clinic offers services such as physicals, breath alcohol testing, diabetes education, worker’s compensation, vaccines, immunizations, drug screenings, chronic disease management and minor care.

Ormberg said she encourages people to take preventative measures and come in for routine maintenance.